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How many languages do Europeans speak

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patrickwilken
Senior Member
Germany
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 Message 9 of 66
28 September 2014 at 2:55pm | IP Logged 
Jeffers wrote:
I think the most important factor must be proximity. In areas near borders I would guess the numbers of people who speak another language are higher.


To a certain extent. My wife grew up on the Dutch border, and we often visit the big nearby town when visiting her parents. I was surprised last time by how few of the Germans who visit speak any Dutch, though the traders at the market certainly speak some German.

I would say the bigger factor is usefulness. Unlike most people on HTLAL people tend to learn languages because they are immediately useful in their own lives. So for instance if you are a trader and you get a lot of sales from people from a nearby country then it helps to learn the language a bit. English is a bit of special case as lots of people speak a fairly simple version of this to allow them to speak to other foreigners (my German father-in-law speaks bad English, but not for my benefit, but so he can communicate with Ukraine colleagues who speak equally bad but serviceable English).

The other big factor is simply how well you can live in your language (which is a variation on usefulness). If you grow up in a relatively small country, which can't afford to translate/dub most of your social media, then it helps to learn the other language. When you are a large language group (Spain, Italy, Germany, England, Poland) the pressure is much less.
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rdearman
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 Message 10 of 66
28 September 2014 at 2:57pm | IP Logged 
Chris13 wrote:
As it stands, in the UK I'd say it's incredibly rare to find a speaker of multiple languages unless they are immigrants or tourists. Whenever I mention I study a couple of languages I'm often met with a very quizzical look and a very blunt "Why?"


I would have to disagree I think. My neighbour teaches Italian & French and she is fully booked week in and week out. Another French woman on the other side of the street has 3-4 pupils each weekend. I have 3 bilingual British born neighbours in my small cul-de-sac. I think the EU is pushing a lot more British people into learning languages.

Chris13 wrote:
However, I do have a lot of European friends who speak a multitude of languages. I have a French friend that speaks English and Finnish, a Croatian friend that has a masters in English, speaks German and Italian, A Dutch friend also with a masters in English that also speaks Spanish and the list is quite long come to think of it.


But mainlanders speak more than British. I personally know a French man who speaks 6 languages, a Frenchman who speaks 4, 4-5 French people who speaks 3, Hungarian who speaks 4, Italian who speak 3s, Polish man speak 5. I also know a couple in Rome who speak Italian, English, German, French, Spanish, Arabic and Greek and are annoyed with their children who can "only" speak 3 languages.

So I would agree mainland Europeans speak more languages, just anecdotal experience.
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Chris13
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 Message 11 of 66
28 September 2014 at 5:58pm | IP Logged 
I think languages such as French, German, Spanish and possibly Mandarin are special cases here as they are most likely to be mandatory at school. I live way down south so it's possible to get a ferry to France in less time than it would take to get to London by train - which still isn't far - so it's quite common to see native French speakers offering French and being fully booked as it's a school subject. However as soon as those learners have finished, the chances of them sticking with the languages I stick by as being rare. I'm not saying it's an impossibility but it's definitely incredibly rare.


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rdearman
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 Message 12 of 66
28 September 2014 at 7:18pm | IP Logged 
Chris13 wrote:
I think languages such as French, German, Spanish and possibly Mandarin are special cases here as they are most likely to be mandatory at school. I live way down south so it's possible to get a ferry to France in less time than it would take to get to London by train - which still isn't far - so it's quite common to see native French speakers offering French and being fully booked as it's a school subject. However as soon as those learners have finished, the chances of them sticking with the languages I stick by as being rare. I'm not saying it's an impossibility but it's definitely incredibly rare.


But these are adults! You must live not to far from me then. :)
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Radioclare
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 Message 13 of 66
28 September 2014 at 9:22pm | IP Logged 
rdearman wrote:
Chris13 wrote:
As it stands, in the UK I'd say it's incredibly rare to find a speaker of multiple languages unless they
are immigrants or tourists. Whenever I mention I study a couple of languages I'm often met with a very quizzical look and a very blunt
"Why?"


I would have to disagree I think. My neighbour teaches Italian & French and she is fully booked week in and week out. Another French woman
on the other side of the street has 3-4 pupils each weekend. I have 3 bilingual British born neighbours in my small cul-de-sac. I think the
EU is pushing a lot more British people into learning languages.


I have to say I agree with Chris13 on this one. I do know a lot of people in the UK who speak (mostly European) languages fluently, but
that's only by virtue of the fact that a lot of my friends are Esperantists, and anyone who speaks Esperanto is almost certain to speak
another language too. If I exclude those people from my acquaintance, I hardly know anyone who isn't from an immigrant background and speaks
a second language. I have one colleague who studied languages at university and speaks French and a bit of Spanish. I have an uncle that
speaks German because he got together with a German girl on holiday in Mallorca and accidentally ended up with a German baby nine months
later. A cousin of my boyfriend is learning Gujarati because that's the language of his wife's family. I think that's it. I live further
north though and it's possible that languages are more popular in southern England.
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beano
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 Message 14 of 66
30 September 2014 at 1:15am | IP Logged 
Ari wrote:


For an Italian to learn English is hardly the same as for an American to learn Italian.


I think it's exactly the same. Neither language is any easier than the other.
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Ari
Heptaglot
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 Message 15 of 66
30 September 2014 at 8:40am | IP Logged 
beano wrote:
I think it's exactly the same. Neither language is any easier than the
other.


Neither language is easier, I agree, but the incentive for an Italian to learn English,
the amount of opportunities to practice and the availibility of media are vastly greater
than for the American who learns Italian. Thus we should expect a lot more Italians who
can speak English than Americans who can speak Italian.
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Elexi
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 Message 16 of 66
30 September 2014 at 10:37am | IP Logged 
In England there is an issue of social class in language learning. State schools, at
least where I live (London), start teaching French at age 11 for 45 minutes per week.
The local private schools, however, begin to teach French at the more realistic age of 5
and have after school clubs for Mandarin and Spanish at the same age.    

Most upper middle class people (especially the 'Ski Set') I know speak French quite
fluently, which goes to show that an incentive to speak a foreign language is what
causes people to learn. It also shows that government policy on languages in England
holds people back.




Edited by Elexi on 30 September 2014 at 10:37am


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